Ars asks: How do you read your e-books?

Kindle, Nook, iOS, or other: Ars wants to know how you put words in your brain.

Electronic book readers come in many flavors and shapes. Add on the ubiquity of Amazon's Kindle app and Barnes & Noble's Nook apps, and any iOS or Android device can be transformed into a multi-gigabyte library (no matter what bookseller you prefer to do business with).

With our own Kindle Paperwhite review coming soon—good, Ars-style product reviews take time to cook up from scratch!—the question of what e-readers are best in life has been on the minds of everyone around the Orbiting HQ. Many folks are pleased as punch with first- and second-generation electronic ink Kindles, which remain sharp and readable in direct sunlight. Others prefer the flexibility of being able to install a reader app on their existing phone or tablet and use a device with which they're already comfortable. Store-branded Android devices like Amazon's new Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HD add additional functionality, which some people appreciate and some don't.

Still other readers take the Richard Stallman approach and refuse to let their eyes gaze on anything other than straight text files displayed with entirely open software on a device made entirely of open hardware. Or maybe you don't understand what the fuss about these new-fangled "e-readers" is about—printed and bound books have served us well for six hundred years!

Tell us, Ars readers: What's your main e-reader? Do you even have one? If you're in the process of buying one or upgrading from one device to another, pick the one you're jumping to.

232 Reader Comments

Most of my "reading" takes the form of Victoria (SVOX voice) text-to-speech reading from my custom build of FBReader while I commute. It makes for a very nice drive, plus I can pick up where the voice left off when I want to actually read the book at home (or wherever).

Actual reading is done white-on-black on my AMOLED Galaxy SIII display. I use a screen dimmer for reading in the dark so that the letters are so dim they wouldn't be visible normally.

I read on my phone, but with inverted colours ie "white" (or grey) text on black screen (ala the old Ars site).On my AMOLED screen, this reduces the glare from reading a "backlit" screen and reduces the energy usage of the screen to boot (black areas are inactive on a OLED).At night, I change the colours to Red text on black screen to further reduce contrast and retain some semblance of nightvision.I've used this method since my Siemens S55, 4 handsets ago...

I've got two devices, the Nook Color is my primary, but I use the MobiPocket Reader on my Black Berry Bold. It's not great, but it's convenient! So it would be nice if your poll asked for primary and secondary devices and possibly tertiary.

I have a perfectly functional last-gen e-ink Kindle, with the case that has a built-in light. I used it daily up until the point I got a Nexus 7. My kindle is now collecting dust. The long battery life is great, but it's just much more pleasurable to read off of the Nexus 7's screen.

I have a Nook Simple Touch I've been quite happy with, but I plan on picking up and switching to an Kindle Paperwhite when they reach better availability. My reasons:

* I didn't realize how much I missed out on being able to e-mail articles to a e-reader until my sister visited and I saw how she used it.* I frequently trade my old textbooks and other materials in to Amazon. I'd like to be able to apply the credit to eBooks.* My public library now supports Kindle, and I won't have to go through an external app to load the books onto a Kindle.* My Nook Simple Touch has been very finicky about synching reading positions between devices, and I'm getting very frustrated by that.

I don't have too many books on my Nook already, and it's not hard to crack the DRM, convert, and transfer them to a Kindle if need be so the ecosystem switch won't be too bad.

I bought my Mother a Kindle a couple years ago and absolutely love reading on the e-ink display, but I already have an iPad from work and don't really read enough to buy a Kindle for myself. Maybe I'll get my mothers old one if I buy her a new Kindle White for Christmas...

I use my 3rd generation iPad, typically using either the Kindle App or iBooks. I prefer iBooks but having to strip my Kindle books of DRM and converting them using Calibre is a bit to much work. I really enjoy reading on the iPad, it has completely replaced paper books for me.

Currently the owner of 4 e-ink Kindles -- my preferred device for e-book reading. However, if I'm in a place where I just have my iPad or iPhone, I might make some progress on a book using an alternate device here and there.

You didn't put "paper" in your list of ways to read books. I own a kindle, but I'm very uncomfortable with buying ebooks for two reasons;

(1) You neither own nor possess your ebooks. The seller or publisher can unilaterally rescind your purchase at any time. Apparently it *has* happened.

(2) ebooks and emagazines I've priced are more expensive than paper books. OK, maybe cheaper than hardback books, but more expensive than paperback bindings, and this goes across the whole range of book types. I'm sure some smug marketing guy is saying, "They'll pay more for the convenience." And some beancounter says, "We'll disintermediate the printer and distributor and keep all that margin for ourselves." But c'mon, an ebook probably costs a tenth as much to put in my hands as its paper twin. Shouldn't customers get some of that?

I can buy paper books and magazines, and I own them, and you can't take them away from me, and they don't need batteries, and they're cheaper, even though they cost more to make.

My gadget lust is cured for the moment with a new phone to play with, but when I upgrade it will probably be to the Nook HD running CM9, or whatever version the fine CM folks have stable on the device by then. But I wouldn't rule out a Nexus-like tablet if available at the time.

I haven't moved on past real paper, but my wife likes her Kindle. If I did any e-reader, I think it'd have to be e-ink as reading on an LCD device isn't all that comfortable (and the battery life is better when you only pay to change what's displayed rather than paying for a static image). But I don't know, I like holding and reading an actual, physical book despite having a smartphone and a computer at hand pretty much all the time.

wp7 trophy when on the train (white on black colors, otherwise too inconvinient)otherwise stick to paper books, many ebooks are priced the same as paper so it makes no sence to get electronic version, not to mention health reasons of reading on backlit screens.

Nook Simple Touch with glow. I had the ST and the original Nook before that. I also had a Nook color on stock firmware for a while and on CM7 - but I prefer the e-ink devices (better battery life).

However, I am very reluctant to rent books for full MSRP (yes, that's how I see DRM'd purchases). So I still read a lot of paper books. I try not to buy DRM'd ebooks - I buy mostly from smashwords, and now that Tor is DRM free, I'm OK with Tor book purchases from B&N. Once in a while I was using Amazon credit to buy DRM'd Kindle books (for history classes, mainly) but strip the DRM in order to read on my Nook.

My wife is a Kindle person though - she just got the Kindle Paperwhite - she's having trouble sideloading books though and downloading samples for some reason - haven't had time to dig into it for her.

ArsPolls need to have checkboxes for multiple options, because sometimes "primary" and "most often" are difficult to nail down. I chose iPad w/ e-reader software, but below is the reality (in almost equal amounts):

iPad 2 w/ Kindle appiPhone 4s w/ Kindle app (on the road, in a waiting room, when I'm too lazy to grab my iPad, et cetera)Kindle app on work or home computer, or alternatively the Kindle Cloud Reader at workmy actual 2nd gen Kindle (though the finacee had taken it over, she now also has an iPad, so... we shall see)

Maybe eInk would be different (I haven't given it a fair shake) but I can't stand reading long texts on screen. If I'm reviewing a document, or reading for pleasure, I need it on dead tree. Usually I'm reading something technical and I tend to flip back and forth between pages/chapters/etc, and I haven't seen a good solution for that in the electronic form. Or if I want to mark something up with a note, diagram, shorthand, etc it's much quicker/easier on paper.

I own several of the devices listed in the poll, but since I don't use them that way I voted none. Text/paper is one of the few mediums I haven't embraced the newest/technical implementation of.

3rd Gen Kindle. And yes, you Luddites, I actually do own the files that are on my Kindle and there is nothing Amazon can do to take it away. I sync with Calibre at home or on the road via my home server. I get about 4 full books out of a single charge and being able to carry over 100 books overseas with me would require several inconvenient bookshelves if I were to do it in dead tree form.

You missed the part where they're asking how you read e-books (unless you print them out to read them.)

Nook Simple Touch is my primary ereader, but I also use the nook and kindle apps on an ipod touch when my wife/kids are using the nook. I really need to get around to rooting the NST and loading the kindle app - the whispersync stuff is very nice, especially emailing books to get them on the device.

Lee Hutchinson / Lee is the Senior Reviews Editor at Ars and is responsible for the product news and reviews section. He also knows stuff about enterprise storage, security, and manned space flight. Lee is based in Houston, TX.